Poor-quality dances rampant on stages                                    The great influx of unqualified dancing groups and choreographers has caused the overall level of dance performance programmes to plummet,  especially in the area of “interpretive” dancing.   Choreographer’s dancing scene in reformed opera named Coi Nguon or (Origin) performed at Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre People’s Artist Kim Quy, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Dancers’ Association, said “Too many professional artistic performances on both stage and television have recently shown choreographers’ carelessness and lack of talent. This in turn has caused the profession to be roundly criticised. Currently, it is very common to see bad-quality dance programmes done purely for profit. We have raised our concerns about this so that organisers will pay closer attention to the selection of worthy choreographers. However, factionalism and negativity backstage, have caused general embarassment in the dance world.” The amateurishness of several choreographers, dance companies and dancers have seriously lowered the quality of  these artistic programmes, she added, saying that she was really afraid of the lack of creativity among young people, while at the same time they purposely ignore any advice given to them. Meritorious Artist Dang Hung, Director of The Bong Sen Theatre of Traditional Music and Dance, shared the opinion of Peole’s Artist Kim Quy, saying that he had no interest in seeing boring dances on HCM City stages—works which fail to transmit any new ideas or messages. Many of the works even show vulgar details. “I think that television stations should tighten control over the quality of dances when they examine artistic programmes. For many shows, artists are well-dressed at the rehearsal, but the costumes worn when the programme is broadcast are dreadful. Nevertheless, in many cases authorities ignore this.” Recently, experts have also voiced their concern about the domination of interprative dances on the Cai Luong (Reformed opera) stage. People’s Artist Pham Anh Phuong, Director of the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet Theatre, said, “It is good to add something new to old music programmes, but it is unacceptable for them to dominate the proceedings.” Artist Le Trung Thao, from Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong (reformed opera) Theatre, said he’s very unhappy to see Cai Luong criticised for being unprofessional. This is partially caused by poor quality interpretive dances. HCM City has more than 50 dance troupes considered professional, excluding those who specialise in wedding parties at restaurants. The city’s professional stages see the performances of around 1,000 dancers every night; however, up to two-thirds of them are untrained. According to Peole’s Artist Kim Quy, “Dancing requires very strict and even harsh training. Why, then, do organisers accept lots of untrained choreographers and dancers for their big programmes. I think that it is the lust for profit and little investment-both financial and artistic-that has seriously hurt the image of Vietnamese dance.” Source: NLD